Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9 recap - Fisk declares war, but the devil isn’t alone

Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 has finally reached its dramatic conclusion. And Episode 9, titled Straight to Hell really lived up to its name.

The finale did not hold back. We got reunions we didn’t expect. There were brutal scenes and some intense city politics. It wasn’t just an end. It felt like a storm building up for what’s next. And maybe this season was a warm-up for the upcoming one.

This episode left us dangling off a cliff (emotionally). It made us wonder what comes next for Hell’s Kitchen. Matt Murdock is finally all in as Daredevil again. He is ready to protect the city. And Fisk is convincing everyone he’s their savior.

But something dark is definitely brewing beneath everything and we will have to wait for the next season to see what becomes of Hell's Kitchen in Daredevil: Born Again.

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Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9 recap - A city on the edge

Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9 kicks off with a flashback from a year ago. It finally pulls back the curtain on one of the biggest mysteries of the season: Who ordered the hit on Foggy Nelson? It was Vanessa Fisk.

We see Vanessa visit Benjamin Poindexter, aka Bullseye, with a release on appeal in this scene of Daredevil: Born Again. She’s there to hire him. The job is to eliminate Foggy Nelson. Poindexter looks broken and confused. He could still be reeling from everything that’s happened to him.

But Vanessa is calm and persuasive. She tells him he’s good at what he does and that he doesn’t deserve to rot in a cell. It's clear that she knows exactly how to manipulate him. Also, Fisk had no idea this meeting ever happened. He had stepped away from his business affairs at that time, which had left Vanessa in charge.

Matt wakes up in a hospital bed back in the present day in Daredevil: Born Again. He is badly wounded. The first name he calls out is Karen. And that doesn’t go over well with Dr. Heather Glenn. Matt’s barely conscious but already asking about Fisk and everything else. He’s convinced he knows what Vanessa has done, and he needs to prove it.

Fisk and Vanessa have a tense moment of their own. Vanessa is visibly shaken and worried about the shooting attempt in Daredevil: Born Again Episode 8. Fisk assures her that he has everything under control. He reminds her that everything he’s done has been for their benefit. He promises that now that he’s in power, they can expand their operations through the Red Hook.

Fisk uses the recent attack on his life to push for more control in a meeting with his staff. He orders a citywide lockdown and directs his task force to hunt down vigilantes. He tells Buck to check on Matt’s condition and to make sure he doesn’t survive. He thinks it's better for Matt to die a hero than be a living vigilante.

Buck heads to the hospital with a syringe in Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9. Commissioner Gallo approaches Sheila at the same time. He warns her that Fisk is flooding the city with criminals and corrupt forces. He tells her she’s one of the few people left he can trust and urges her to do the right thing.

The city’s power goes out all of a sudden. Buck reaches Matt’s room only to find it empty. He has escaped. Sheila hands over a recording of her conversation with the commissioner to Fisk. She’s outside his office, crying. The weight of her decision is already crushing her in Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9.

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Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9 recap - The return of The Punisher and the rise of a rebellion

What we’d all been waiting for finally happens in Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9. Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, makes his grand entrance again. Matt returns home only to find Frank waiting for him in the dark. It turns out Karen Page had called in a favor. She knew Matt would need backup as Poindexter had escaped prison. And who better than The Punisher?

But there’s no time for reunion pleasantries. Murdock’s apartment is already surrounded by the Anti-Vigilante Task Force. In a bit of poetic irony, they're all wearing bulletproof vests marked with the Punisher’s signature skull emblem. Soon, the Task Force storms in, and we’re thrown into a hyper-violent fight sequence with Frank Castle's level of brutality. There are knives, bullets, and blood everywhere. We also learn that it was Cole North who killed Hector Ayala.

Daredevil and Punisher clash over methods in Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9. Murdock refuses to kill, but Castle sees no other way. Their argument is cut short when Daredevil hears the sound of a grenade arming. They leap out the window just in time to survive the blast.

Karen Page arrives with a getaway car and takes both of them to Punisher’s lair. She stitches up Matt there. Frank tends to himself. Matt realizes they need to access the files Foggy had been working on. So, he and Karen head out to retrieve them. As she leaves, Karen tells The Punisher that she doesn’t believe he’s as detached from the city as he pretends to be.

Fisk sends Daniel to subtly threaten his staff into submission. The city is all messed up, with innocent civilians like a young boy caught looting being gunned down and posthumously labeled as vigilantes.

In Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9, Matt and Karen discover that Red Hook is a free port. It is exempt from city and national jurisdiction. It’s a perfect front for Vanessa Fisk’s operation. She’s been storing and laundering art there without customs checks or taxes for years. Now, Mayor Fisk is planning to expand operations there under the guise of development. Red Hook will become the ideal place for the Fisks to smuggle or gamble, or to carry out any number of illegal dealings.

Punisher independently heads to Red Hook but is captured by the Task Force members. They idolize him, but he wants nothing to do with them. Meanwhile, Wilson Fisk crushes the city’s police commissioner’s skull with his bare hands in front of his loyal cops.

Daredevil and Karen make it to Red Hook, but she stops him from charging in blindly. He’d be killed or forced to kill. Neither of which they can afford. Back in the city, Dr. Heather Glenn joins hands with Fisk and is appointed Commissioner of Mental Health under his new administration.

Fisk releases a broadcast to the city. He states that the commissioner has resigned and announces the implementation of the Safer Streets initiative. This includes an 8 p.m. curfew, martial law, and a complete ban on all vigilante activity.

Matt opens up to Karen about the darkness he allowed to seep into him in Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9. He admits he thought he was immune to it, but he wasn’t. Karen reminds him of who he is:

"Foggy believed in you. Whatever you want to call yourself, whatever's behind the mask, behind your eyes. That's wrath, and that's mercy. That's the dark and the light. He knew all of it. All of it. He knew you. And I do too."

A group of cops listen to Daredevil’s speech at Josie’s. He says:

"I can't see my city. But I can feel it. The system isn't working. And it's rotten. Corrupt. But this is our city. Not his. And we can take it back together. The weak... The strong... All of us... Resist. Rebel. Rebuild. Because we're the city without fear."

Then we see Vanessa and Fisk go into their secret lair. They’ve taken several captives which including Swordsman and The Punisher. Vanessa is dressed in red, and Fisk is in his iconic white. They sit down for a lavish dinner.

The episode closes as it zooms in on Daredevil back at Josie’s. He is lit under a flashing red light, which ultimately goes out. It then silhouettes like he’s donning the black suit.

We also get a post-credit scene in Daredevil: Born Again season finale. Frank Castle is seen tricking a guard into a handshake and then crushing his hand. He presumably does that to escape his cage.

Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9 brings us the violence that defines Daredevil’s darker corners. War is coming to Hell’s Kitchen.

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